The Digression
by Indy'sEndymion
Summary: Set during the Fate of the Jedi series. Luke and Ben Skywalker land on Tatooine, where Luke runs into some old "friends". Rated M for later chapters which will contain torture, but right now it's safe. Contains OCs but the focus will be on the Skywalkers and Camie and Fixer.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own the _Star Wars_.

Setting/Time: Tatooine, during the _Fate of the Jedi_ series (after _Outcast_). This might be considered AU, but I'm not sure. Either way, it is proudly EU/Legends.

Author's Note 1: This story will feature Camie and Fixer. I realize more has been written about them since the novelization of "A New Hope", but the novelization is only what I will consider.

Author's Note 2: I just reposted the chapters I've written and changed a few minor things. Previously I'd said that I was going to de-age Luke a bit, but now that won't be the case, so consider him to be early 60s just as the FotJ series has him be. Updates still will not be easy for me but I am trying to work on this story again.

**A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…**

I.

Luke Skywalker came out of the refresher of his late wife's ship wearing a pair of black pants. They were the sort that were comfortable to sleep in but were tough enough to withstand combat, should he need to spring into action suddenly. He toweled off his hair — damp from the hot sanisteam he'd just enjoyed — and made his way to where his son was. Ben, hungry as usual, was in the galley.

"Hey dad, do you want a bantha steak?"

Luke thought for a moment but then shook his head and ran the towel over his well-muscled chest and abdominals. He threw the towel into his bedchamber and reached for some dark green leaves. He dressed them lightly with oil made from a delicious native Dorin plant and said, "I've been feeling sluggish lately and I think it's because I haven't had any greens in a long time. Plus, do you know how long that has been in the cooling unit? I think I'll pass."

"Sluggish?" Ben said sardonically, "Well we _have_ just returned to the land of the living, that's probably why. But that's no reason you can't enjoy a delicious dead bantha."

The Jedi Grandmaster chuckled at his son's dry humor — he definitely took after his mother — and then grew serious. "True, but that's exactly why I have no need for meat right now. I don't wish to take another sentient being's life into me so soon after returning from the dead. You know I think there isn't anything inherently wrong with eating meat, as long as the animal lived a happy life and came to a dignified end, but still, no death should be taken lightly – even a delicious bantha's. Every time we eat meat we must remember that we are being sustained by an animal's death, and we must be grateful. My Aunt Beru's family had a long held tradition that when we consume a sentient being, we take its life into our own."

Ben sighed, annoyed again that he had to be the son of a Jedi, where _every_thing was a lesson. But he knew his father was right. "Okay dad," he said, "you're right, I should be more thankful to the bantha. But didn't you used to bullseye womprats in your T-16? Or is that just legend?"

"No, I never did that." Luke rolled his eyes.

"You didn't? But then why does everyone say you did?"

Luke ran his fingers through his hair in a half-hearted attempt to comb it. "Well because I told people I did. I lied because some of the guys were thinking the shot needed to take out the Death Star was impossible. I _knew_ it wasn't but I didn't know how I knew – it was just like when I was 6 years old and I _knew _the screwdriver my aunt had lost was under the couch – so I made up the story about the womprats. I'm not actually a psychopath, you know."

"Oh," Ben said. "Well that's good I suppose. Do you really believe what your Aunt Beru did?"

"You know, I'm not sure," Luke shrugged and grew a sly grin, "but it makes sense, from a certain point of view."

"Agh!" Ben exclaimed in mock anger, "You and my namesake can shove the point-of-view!"

Luke laughed heartily. He did so love to rile his boy up. And it was good to be able to laugh with him considering in the past their relationship had had its share of friction. He finished eating his greens and saw that Ben was finished with his steak. "Okay Ben, as fascinating as Dorin is, I'm ready to get out of here. Go plot a course for the Kathol Sector." His voice grew ominous, "We need to go to the Rift."

"Okay dad, copy that." Ben started walking to the cockpit of the _Jade Shadow_.

Luke walked back to his bedchamber and began a moving meditation sequence. He gathered up a ball of green Force energy and, through the gentle push and pull of his arms and the dip and rise of his legs, he made the energy dance.

"HEY DAD!? DO YOU WANT ME TO PLOT THE COURSE ANY PARTICULAR WAY?"

_Typical_, Luke thought. Instead of calmly walking the short distance from the cockpit or, even better, using the intercom, Ben had decided to yell loudly. Luke sighed and walked to where his son sat in the pilot's seat. "Ya just had to bellow like a Tusken, didn't you? Take the smartest route."

"Well that's… helpful." Ben said.

Luke ignored his son's comment and said, "And now I'm going to sleep for a while. Wake me before we make the jump to hyperspace."

Ben nodded, his playfulness gone. He could see his father was tired.


	2. Chapter 2

II.

Luke awoke to the sound of a blaring alarm system. He dashed to the cockpit to find his son frantically trying to input something in the navicomp. "What's wrong?"

"It says we're on a collision course with something! I've got to bring us out of hyperspace!" Ben said, pulling back on the hyperdrive lever.

The hypnotic swirling blue of hyperspeed slowed, and the black of realspace overtook them. To the left of center in the viewport shone twin stars, and a yellow planet loomed to their front.

"Where are we?" Ben asked his father. He looked over to the navicomp to tell him, but it read 'Error.'

Luke Skywalker sighed and heaved himself into the co-pilot's chair. He didn't need the navicomp to tell him. "Tatooine. We're looking at Tatooine, Ben." He threw and uncharacteristic growl and glare at his son, "How the _kriff _did we get here?"

Ben blinked. His father never cursed. And he usually didn't get angry either, especially at him, the beloved son. "Umm, I mean I don't know dad. I plotted our course to take us through the RTR, but somehow we got sidetracked." Ben hit a button on the navicomp, hoping to display a history of their last jumps. It still read 'Error.' "I'm not sure, but I'm guessing instead of riding the Hydian all the way to the Rimma, it spit us out early and put us onto the Corellian Run."

Luke gritted his teeth and slightly raised his voice, "Why didn't you do it the safe way and bring us out of hyperspace before entering a new lane? You know it's not always safe to trust the navicomp to put us directly from one to another. I told you to take the smartest way – this was clearly not it. Plus, didn't I tell you to wake me before making the jump?"

"Well, yeah you did tell me to wake you, but you looked so tired and I just wanted you to rest. I'm sorry, dad. I should have woken you up and I should have plotted the jumps the safe way." Ben bit his lip and looked down. He hated to feel his father's disappointment.

"No," Luke sighed, "I'm sorry, son. I didn't mean to snap at you. And I'm not disappointed in you. You could never disappoint me."

"Really?" Ben looked up.

"Well… only if you turn to the dark side. I guess I'm just irritated at being here. I don't like coming back here." He sighed, "Did I ever tell you how much I hate sand?" Luke looked at his home planet through the viewport. "And now I'm irritated with myself for losing my temper."

"I wondered at that," Ben said, "I couldn't imagine you even having a temper."

"Well you've never really seen it but I have quite the temper believe it or not. It used to get me into quite a bit of trouble when I was young." Luke laughed bitterly. "Some of the things I inherited from my father aren't the best qualities to have. Good thing you inherited your mother's temperament."

"Uh…" Ben looked confused. "Mom wasn't exactly even-tempered."

"Well, Mara was bitter more than angry, but when she did get angry it was….contained, pointed. The Skywalker temper is something else altogether. I usually have it locked down though. You're right that I'm tired."

Ben's throat closed a moment as he heard his father say his mother's name. Luke so seldom talked about her that when he did, it always surprised him. He could hear the pain in his father's voice as he said her name; even two years after her death Ben could see that Luke struggled nearly daily to keep himself from succumbing to grief.

Ben suspected there was more to his father's reaction than being simply tired, but he only gave him a reassuring smile and said "It's okay dad." It felt kind of good to see his father act like a normal human once in a while, instead of the imperturbable Grandmaster Jedi all the time.

"Well son," Luke said, sounding dejected, "I guess you get to finally see where you old man is from. We'll have to land and try to get the parts to fix that navicomp."

"That's right! I've never been here!"

"Don't get your hopes up. There's not much here for teenage boys to do, believe me. It's a boring, blazing, kriffing, forceforsaken rock." Luke grumbled.

Ben raised an eyebrow at hearing his father curse again. _Dad's seriously off his game._

"Sorry. Do as I say and not as I do and don't curse. I guess this place just brings out the worst in me." Luke said, casting his eyes to the side and leaning his head against his backrest. He shrugged, "Well, let's get on with it then."


	3. Chapter 3

III.

"Don't worry dad," Ben Skywalker assured his father, "this is just a momentary digression. I'm sure we'll be out of here in no time."

"Right," the Jedi Grandmaster said, "let's hope so. You contact the comm officer on planet and get us a landing clearance. Try to land us in Mos Espa or Bestine. I'm going to go freshen up a bit."

"Okay dad, sounds good," Ben said. By the time he'd finished communicating with the on-planet officer and had landed his mother's ship, his father had come out of the refresher. "Wow dad, nice threads, and you look… not tired!"

Luke laughed, "Well thanks, son… I'll take that as a compliment. It wouldn't do for me to show up all scruffy looking." He smirked, thinking of what Leia had told him once. Before they'd married, his sister had had some doubts about marrying Han, and she'd confided in Luke. _You know, I called him every name I could think of and he only took offense to one. Do you really think I can marry a man who doesn't object to being called 'half-witted' but does object to be called 'scruffy looking'? I mean, he either really _is_ dense, or he's incredibly vain. Either way it's not looking good. _Luke shook his head and laughed again.

He went to his quarters to look once more at himself in his full length mirror just to be sure he was presentable. His light brown hair, silver at the temples, was combed back; it was getting a bit long so, combed back, it looked like a Maridunian Tawny Cat's mane. His face was freshly shaven, and he'd changed into clean clothes. He wore fitted fatigues that highlighted his athletic body. They resembled those he'd worn when he fought his father for the first time on Cloud City, though this time they were a warm sand color instead of the drab light beige he'd worn then. Luke shuddered at the memory of the fight with Vader, but then took heart as he remembered he had grown so much since then. Even though he was no longer the official head of the Jedi Order, he still held the rank of Grandmaster. He was, to his knowledge, the most powerful Force user in the galaxy and so he had nothing to fear from his former home.

Luke took a few deep breaths and calmed himself. Plus, he thought, he looked rather distinguished in this outfit. The military-style clothing was practical in a few ways: the light color would help with the suns and yet the cut was imposing enough that it should make the less scrupulous beings of the planet think twice before trying to cross him. Pity that this was important on Tatooine, but it was. Mara, Luke thought, would've been proud of him for transcending his nature of being a "crummy dresser", as she'd once told him. Luke strapped his holster around his thigh and clicked the secondary clasp to the belt at his waist. He chose his favorite DL-44 blaster, checked the power pack, and then put it in place. He also grabbed his wife's favorite holdout blaster and tucked it into his sleeve. Finally he clipped his lightsaber to his belt at his side and tucked a lightweight, white scarf into his pants, leaving the majority of it to hang down and obscure the view of the hilt. He checked the mirror once more and then scowled at himself. _Cut it out, Skywalker. You've never cared so much about your looks for the people you actually care about, and the slight chance you'll run into people you know shouldn't make a difference._

"So, even though you look great," Ben cut into Luke's internal dialogue from where he stood in the doorway of Luke's quarters, "how come you're not going to wear your robes?"

"Well, I want to look decent but I don't want to flaunt the Jedi stuff here. People out here in the Outer Rim have always been more suspicious of the government – they've especially been suspicious of anything to do with the Jedi – and I'm sure they haven't heard the news that I'm temporarily banished. If I show up in Jedi robes it's just going to cause problems. Plus, it's going to be hard enough for me to walk around here without people recognizing me. The Jedi robes would call more attention." He patted his lightsaber underneath the scarf. "Many people carry scarves around in case of sudden sandstorms so this won't look out of place. You should either do the same or tuck your lightsaber into a pocket."

"Makes sense. I'd better change out of my dirty flight suit too – I don't want to be making a bad impression on my dad's home world now…"

"Alright, Ben. You go change while I talk to Artoo. I'll have him run a diagnostic on the hyperdrive and see what parts we'll need to get."

Ben walked down the landing ramp a short while later wearing midnight blue fatigues and black boots. He carried with him a small satchel that held two canteens of water, a few ration bars, and a few other assorted items. He was surprised to find that his father was nowhere to be found. He reached out in the Force and very quickly learned that Luke was just outside their docking bay. And he was NOT happy. Ben grimaced. "This better be a short trip…" he muttered to Artoo. The droid stood at the top of the ramp of the _Shadow_ and let off a series of hopeful sounding beeps and trills. "No, Artoo" Ben replied, "you stay here and guard the ship." Artoo trilled happily. Ben had a feeling the little droid hated the sand as much as his father did.

* * *

_Author's Note:_

\- If I remember correctly the _Fate of the Jedi_ books had it so Artoo wasn't with them on this trip but that made no sense to me. If Luke's going to be gone for potentially ten years, or at least a few years, there's no way he'd not have Artoo with him as a companion and because he'd be helpful. I think the books also had him not bring his x-wing and I think I'll have to change that too for the same reason.


End file.
